Black Sheep
by bucketgirl55
Summary: A TWSVU crossover. A serial rapist is coming close to home for Squad 55, having Stabler and Benson investigate.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any rights to the characters used in this story. I just borrowed them.

Synopsis: This is a Third Watch / Law & Order SVU crossover, so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Black Sheep**

Rain was pouring outside the hospital window, leaving its drops on the window pane where they were running down, joining other drops and becoming bigger and faster on their way down. It looked like they were creating streets on the pane and two streets led to a highway.

But she wasn't seeing any of this. Her stare went through the window without noticing anything. The weather outside resembled her insider very well. She felt grey inside, empty, drained of all emotions except shame. Her body and mind were felt numb.

When the door opened, she didn't turn her head at all. A nurse entered, accompanied by a man and a woman.

"Honey, these two are Detectives," she told her who they were.

"Miss Goldstein, I'm Detective Benson, this is Detective Stabler. We understand you were raped?" the woman introduced herself and her partner and waited for a response.

The woman in the hospital bed turned her head slightly and barely moved her head up and down to indicate that Benson was right.

* * *

Laughter filled the bar. In the back, an old music box was trying its best to be heard. Above the counter, there was a muted television set, presenting colorful pictures of a music clip. Glasses were clinging together in toasts, while the bartender willingly refilled those who went empty. The light was dimmed to create a cosy mood, but the laughter and chatting painted a different picture. A group of people were obviously celebrating some event. They were filling the better part of the back space of the bar.

One man and a woman came up to the bar ordering another round.

"Hey, Jimmy! Bring us some peanuts too!" another man shouted from the back.

The man at the counter waved back that he had understood and repeated the order to the bartender as well, although every other customer in that bar had surely heard it as well.

The man in charge of the beverage got out several green bottles, filled with Dutch "Heineken" beer and two middle sized bowls of peanuts.

"Who's paying?" he asked before the man named Jimmy and his female companion could return to the party they were having.

"Joe, over there," Jimmy returned, pointing towards a man with already thinning brown hair.

"Baby party," he gave some more information and returned with the ordered beer and peanuts. The woman beside him was helping him carry. They hadn't even reached the tables when some people from the group became impatient.

"Geez, Jimmy, what's taking you so long?" DK asked, playing with his almost empty beer bottle.

"You know, there are other customers here as well," Jimmy returned.

"You got the peanuts too?" Nieto wanted to know.

Jimmy felt like he was a zoo keeper and this was the feeding of the beasts when everybody grabbed for a beer and some peanuts.

"What other customers? We're practically alone in this joint!" DK laughed and took the last gulp of his old beer before he helped himself for a new one.

"To Joe, Linda and the little one!" Walsh held up his beer and waited for the others to join the toast.

"To the Lombardo family!" Alex joined in. Bottles were put together.

"To the kid having more hair than its Dad already!" Jimmy teased and together with the others, he went on with the party.


	2. Chapter 2

They were still in that hospital room, taking Andrea Goldstein's statement. In a very thing voice, the woman told Detectives Benson and Stabler what had happened.

_Andrea was getting ready for bed. She loved the sound the raindrops made when they hit the window pane. She had had a nice warm shower already and was now wearing her comfortable grey flannel jogging suit. Also, she had made herself a hot chocolate to warm herself up from earlier when she had gotten wet on her way home. It was just shortly after 8 p.m., but Andrea was exhausted from a long day at work. With a sigh, she sat down on her bed and looked outside the window for a moment, listening to the rain. It always remembered her of a piece of meat that was frying in a pan. _

_The woman put down her dark blue mug filled with the still steaming chocolate, before she slid under her warm blanket. She wanted to read her latest Patricia Cornwell novel some more before sleep to get her mind away from all the stress she had had today. Working at the DMV office that re-opened after the weekend was always stressful, but today had been even worse. The last few hours, Andrea had longer for her quiet home, a warm shower and – above all - her bed. The minute she was in her bed with a good book and a nice hot chocolate beside her, she felt the stress and the tension fall off her body and mind._

After reading a few sentences, she had lost herself in the novel entirely, occasionally reaching for her drink without taking her eyes off the page she was reading. After half an hour, she was tired enough to easily sleep after she had put the book away. Andrea turned her bedside lamp off and with listening to the rain outside, within minutes she drifted off to sleep.

"When I woke up, there was someone in my room," Andrea continued with a thin voice.

"Suddenly, he was all over me…and I couldn't do anything…"

She started to cry. Benson and Stabler looked uncomfortably at each other. This was always the hardest part of their job. Getting the victim to tell them what happened. Things most victims wouldn't tell their loved ones for a long time, they had to tell to strangers.

"Andrea, can you tell us what he looked like?" Benson asked, her voice steady and quiet.

The woman stopped crying and nodded slightly.

"It was a fireman…"

"How do you know?" Stabler now asked. He didn't like what he heard.

"He had this fire gear on, and a helmet…"

Stabler came closer.

"Do you remember the number on the helmet?" he wanted to know.

"55…"

* * *

Sully woke up and yawned. His alarm clock showed 8:21 am in red digits. The police officer sighed. Way to early. He had just come home at 1 am last night after shift. Sully turned around again and found Tatiana next to him, undisturbed by his moving. He moved closer to her and tried to put his arms around her without waking her up. Tatiana was the best thing that had happened to him in a really long time. She made him smile, changed his mood and even had him loose weight. No woman before her had managed that. Sully smiled and let his head rest next to hers. Her hair smelled like coconuts, the shampoo she was using. He must have woken her up, because she was turning her head and seeing him smile at her.

"Good morning…" he said.

"What's wrong, why are you smiling?" she wanted to know after she had returned the greeting.

"Nothing," Sully returned. "Go back to sleep…"

Yes, he was happy to have Tatiana in his life.

* * *

Francis Johnson was already fully dressed and in the kitchen when his wife Ruth came down.

"Morning, honey," he said and turned around to give her a kiss.

"You're making breakfast? What happened?" Ruth asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, I just wanted to do it. The kids are already off to school with their lunch boxes, and Rookie is taken care of," Johnson told his wife and smiled. She had forgotten what day it was.

They sat down at the kitchen table, each a coffee before them. From his pants pocket he pulled up a small box, carefully wrapped in golden gift wrapper and with a blue tie on the top.

"Happy Anniversary," Francis said and kissed his wife once more.

Ruth looked at her husband as if he had gone crazy.

"We can't afford this," she simply said with tears in her eyes.

"Open it!"

With trembling hands and with tears in her eyes she opened the small box. Inside lay an old silver key.

"This is the key to my heart…," Francis said, waiting for a response from his wife.

"Here's to 25 more years…"

Ruth turned to face him, her eyes watered.

"I love you more than anything else in the world, Francis!" she said and kissed him.

"Happy Anniversary to you too!"


	3. Chapter 3

Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson were back at their desk at the 1-6. Both desks had in common the dark grey computer flat screen as well as keyboard and mouse. And both had a pile of files at the right side of them. While Benson's desk was also occupied with a black telephone, Stabler's desk held a beige one. Also on both desks were pictures from the families of the Detectives. Stabler was now typing up reports while his partner was organising the results of the canvas several patrol officers had done earlier.

"Do you think it's a fireman?" Stabler asked looking up from the screen.

"Why not?" Benson shrugged.

"I don't know, just can't see it…"

Olivia looked directly at her partner now and he could see that he had hit a nerve.

"Why? Just because they're heroes? You think there isn't one bad apple in the FDNY?" she returned and couldn't help but to raise her voice.

"But we don't even know yet if it IS a fireman!" Stabler contradicted, his voice now louder than before as well.

Colleagues started to look over to them and Captain Donald Cragen, a slightly small man with a balding hairline, came out of his office to see what the commotion was all about.

"We got a problem here?" Cragen asked in a tone a father would speak to his children.

It proved useful, as Benson and Stabler both looked at their superior apologetically.

"No, Sir," Olivia added, looking down to her desk.

"Then I suggest you send a memo out to all precincts to notify us ASAP should there be another case with the same MO. Also check if there already had been cases similar to ours."

"Yes Sir," Stabler said, but forgot to mention that they intended to start looking for the same modus operandi as soon as the reports were done. The grown-up detective felt like a schoolboy that had just been chastised by his principal for spying in the girl's changing room.

When Cragen returned to his office – which was opposite Benson's desk – Stabler and Benson went back to work in silence. They both needed to cool off first.

* * *

It was Lieutenant Johnson's favourite time of day – lunch time. Or more precisely food preparing time in the firehouse. Although he mostly stayed in his office to do paperwork, he loved the sounds and smells that came into his little eremite cave; also known as his office.

If he remembered correctly, it was either DK's or Walsh's turn to cook today, so the meal would be either lasagne or "pie" – outside New York City commonly known as pizza.

But he didn't care who's turn it was. Johnson enjoyed the life in the kitchen area. To him, it meant everything was normal and fine.

After 9-11, they hadn't prepared meals for several weeks because of all the food donations from the community. But specially Johnson had missed it. The return to normality. And back then, when Doc had surprised everybody with everything they would need for a BBQ, they had found Tommy Doyle's body in the Pile.

Johnson forced his thoughts away from that dreadful time and returned to his paperwork again. Little did he know about the meal that was being prepared in the kitchen area. Because he had no idea that Walsh knew it was Johnson's anniversary…

* * *

A car stopped in front of the fire house with squeaking tyres and a woman jumped out.

"My baby!" she cried. "My baby!"

Bobby and Carlos were in the back of the bay, playing Basketball. Irritated by those screams, the hurried to the front and found the woman, crying from panic.

"My baby, please help her!" she sobbed.

Carlos grabbed her by her shoulders and moved down a little to be face-to-face with her.

"What's wrong with her?" the paramedic wanted to know while Bobby opened the door to the passengers side in front and checked the baby's vitals.

"I don't know, she just suddenly went silent and didn't move anymore…please help her…"

"What's her name?" Bobby asked from the car.

The woman turned around to face the paramedic.

"Hope…she's 14 months old," she told him.

"Was she sick?" Carlos wanted to know now, joining his colleague by the car, now that the woman had calmed down a little. Bobby was already holding the baby in his arms, moving towards the ambulance.

"Her face is hot, pulse is fast and weak, resp shallow," Caffey told Carlos, who ran over to the stairs leading up to the squad room and yelled up where he and Bobby would be going. Not waiting for a reply, he hurried over to the ambulance and hopped in on the driver's seat, while Bobby and the concerned mother climbed in back.


	4. Chapter 4

The alarm clock pierced through the dream Boscorelli just had. Two women were in a ring filled with mud and they were fighting over him. With a moan, Bosco rolled over to the side where this beeping sound was and hit down on the alarm clock to shut it up. He had been so laid after the night before that Bosco had decided to sleep in. So he would have to get up to get to the station in time today. Swersky had had him by his balls so to speak, last time he had been late. Bosco closed his eyes again for a second and grinned. Two women fighting over him in a mud fight – he'd love to see that happen in real life.

"Dream on, Moe," he heard himself say when he sat up and sighed. He felt like he still had alcohol in his system, so a nice hot shower would make him feel better. With slow steps, Bosco made his way to the bathroom when he heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen.

"What the f?" he cursed and went to look. When he reached the threshold, he stopped. The cupboard holding his glasses had come off the wall and now the whole room was filled with shattered glass.

"Great, just what I need today…" Bosco sighed and went to get his slippers so he wouldn't step into anything. Instead of taking a sobering shower, he soon was cleaning the glass from the kitchen floor. For a second, he wasn't careful enough though. One big piece of glass cut his hand and instantly, blood started to poor out.

"Son of a bitch!" the cop yelled and threw the glass across the room and against the wall. For a second, he stopped and watched the blood in his hand drop on the grey kitchen floor. Then he sighed, got up and went for his band aids. Hopefully, this wouldn't need stitches…

* * *

It was time for roll-call. One officer after another strolled into the room, found a seat and exchanged small talk and the newest gossip while they waited for their Lieutenant.

"Hey Davis!" Boscorelli called over to his colleague.

"Where's Sully?"

The young Afro-American officer shrugged. "Do I look like his nanny to you?" he returned.

Bosco eyed him down. "You know, now that you said it…" Bosco laughed, while Davis just rolled his eyes in reply.

"What happened to your hand?" Faith Yokas asked.

"Kitchen accident," Bosco shrugged and almost blushed. Somehow, he felt stupid about it.

When Lieutenant Swersky entered the roll-call room, the chatter died and all eyes were on him. He spread some sheets on the table before him and looked around.

"Where's Sullivan?" he wanted to know.

Heads turned towards Davis. He was Sully's partner after all. Ty sighed. Just as he wanted to reply, the glass door to the room opened and Officer John Sullivan entered, clearly in a hurry to get there in time.

"Sorry boss," he said, trying to catch his breath. He gave Swersky an apologising look, before he took his usual seat in the back of the room.

"Okay everybody, now that we're all here, let's start. First item today is a raid. The DEA wants to raid out a big drug lab later this evening and needs some assistance from this precinct."

Some officers sighed while others tried to become invisible. Swersky noticed that and smiled inwardly, but stayed serious in front of his crew.

"Don't worry, it's going by rotation. And this time it's…Sullivan, Davis…"

Sully let his shoulders hang and sighed heavily.

"And Boscorelli, Yokas," Swersky went on.

Bosco's reaction was very different from the one of his elder colleague. He smiled and his eyes started to shine as if he had just won the lottery.

"55-Charlie and David report back to the house at 5 p.m. for further details," the Lieutenant added and went on.

"Item next: SVU sent out a memo that there's a rapist out there, pretending to be or even being a genuine fireman. Please report any incidents to Captain Donald Cragen over at Special Victim's." Swersky looked up.

"Okay, that's it! Eyes and ears open out there!"

Instantly, the noise level rose again with chairs being shifted, small talk being picked up where it had stopped before and with leather belts moving.

Sully got up and started complaining. "Damn raid! Can't they get their own people for that? Baby-sitting for DEA, just great!"  
Bosco looked at him as if he was from another planet. "You kidding me? This means action! It'll look great on my rep for ESU…"

"Hold it, cowboy!" Sully stopped him enthusiasm.

Faith looked over to Davis and rolled her eyes. They both knew that either partner wouldn't shut up until the raid was over. That would become an exhausting shift for both, Davis and Yokas…


	5. Chapter 5

As most of the times when it was time to eat, the alarm went off and stopped the firefighters and paramedics in their tracks.

"Squad 5, Ladder 100, Adam 55-3, Boy 55-3: residential fire t 1347 Amsterdam," dispatch informed them.

In less than 2 minutes, everybody was in their turnout gear and on their rigs. The paramedics wouldn't wait in their ambulances until the fire trucks had pulled out of the bay, instead they were already on their way.

Zick-zacking through afternoon traffic, one fire and one ladder truck made it to their location. Black smoke was already pouring out of the top windows of this 4 story building. Orange flames could be seen in the windows below. The men and woman of Squad 55 took that scene in in fragments of seconds. Johnson jumped out of the truck as soon as Walsh had stopped and started to assign his crew.

"Doherty, you're noozle man! Lombardo, hydrant! DK, Taylor, start search and rescue! MacNamara, Logan – on the roof, start venting!"

When everybody knew what to do, they did as they were told.

As soon as DK and Taylor made it through the front door, heat and smoke embraced them.

For a moment, Alex thought back to her first assignment. It had been a fire similar to this one. For her, back then the heat had seemed unbearable, but she had fought not to let it show. She had been a damn rookie and a woman on top of that. She had to be stronger than any other probie. And the had proven that she was, even back then. Alex had had the honor to hold the nod – the water pouring end of a hose – faster than any other probationary firefighter in that unit had ever had. And her colleagues back then hadn't given her that honor because her father had been a Chief – but because she had earned it.

That had been years ago and she had seen a lot of fires since then, but you never forgot your first one. Or that particular day when you were noozle man for the first time – or in her case, nozzle woman.

Alex returned to reality again and followed DK. It always amazed her how many things you could think of in split seconds. Alex looked up the stairs. They both knew they had to get up there, into the lion's den. Up to those floors occupied by flames and smoke and heat. But there could still be civilians up there. Behind them, Doherty and two other men from Ladder 100 were following close with the hose. And when they would go past that third floor, which seemed to be the origin of the fire, they wouldn't want to go without the hose.

So while Jimmy led the way upstairs to fight the fire, DK and Taylor stopped on the second landing and listened for calls for help. When they didn't hear anything, they split up and quickly started to search through the apartments for anyone trapped.

Stabler's mobile phone beeped. He fidgeted it out of his coat pocket and answered it.

"Stabler…" He listened for a moment.

"Where is she now?" He listened again.

"We're on our way." Elliot closed his phone and looked over to his partner.

"That was dispatch – Andrea Goldstein is trying to kill herself…"

Within minutes and the help of lights and siren behind the windshield of their black sedan, Benson and Stabler arrived at the apartment building where the woman lived. Stabler looked up when he got out of the passenger's side of the car.

"There she is!" he pointed it out to his partner.

"Let's hope she won't do it…," Benson hoped as they hurried inside to get to the roof as quickly as possible to talk to her.

Up on the roof, the two detectives were met by two uniformed officers, one male, one female.

The blonde female officer was talking to Goldstein while her partner, a rather short man with dark, short hair, was obviously not happy about the situation. His name tag read Boscorelli.

"I hate jumpers," he offered an explanation, without being asked for one.

"Well, you don't have to deal with her anymore, we'll take it from here…," Stabler said, approaching the female officer.

"What, you know her or something?" Bosco wanted to know now, his interest peeked.

"Or something…she's the rape victim of that alleged firefighter," Benson told him, taking he had read or heard about the memo Special Victim's Unit had sent out earlier that day.

She went on over to her partner, who was already with the other officer who went by the name of Yokas.

"I've been trying to reach her for the last couple of minutes, but she doesn't wanna talk," Faith explained without taking her eyes from the woman who wanted to jump off the roof.

"She didn't even tell me her name…"

"Andrea Goldstein," Stabler told her. "She's been raped yesterday."

Faith remembered the memo and told them so. The two detectives nodded.

"You should try it then, maybe you're luckier than I was…," Yokas said and drew back to where her partner Boscorelli was standing.

"Can we go now? Cavalry seems to have it…" Bosco said. When Faith rolled her eyes at him, he only looked at her, not knowing what he had said or done this time.

"What?"

"Sometimes I think you're as insensitive as they come…"

Andrea was watching the people below passing by. They were unaware of her sitting on the ledge, waiting for a good opportunity to jump off the roof.

"Andrea?" she heard a male voice.

"Stay away from me! Don't come closer!" the woman returned without looking at the Detective.

"Andrea, I just wanna talk, that's all…okay? Just talk…," he went on, handing his gun and cell phone over to his partner. He slowly took one step forward, hoping she wouldn't notice it.

"I don't wanna talk anymore…No more talking…I'm so tired…"

"I can understand that you're tired, Andrea. I know how you feel…" Stabler took another step forward, closing the distance between him and her.

"You don't know anything! Have you ever been raped?" she returned. Her voice held a mixture of anger and despair when she turned around to face the male detective who was talking to her.

He stopped and looked at her. Tears were running down her cheeks. Elliot was only a few feet away from her, only one more step and she would be within reach.

"I'm sorry, Andrea. I really am. You're right, I don't know what it's like to be raped…"

She looked at him, crying.

"I just want my live back!"

He took that last step and embraced her, pulling her away from the edge.

"I know…" Elliot said, holding her, cradling her like a baby to comfort her.

"I just want it back," she sobbed and buried her face against his shoulder and let the emotions flow…


	6. Chapter 6

Knocking in doors, looking for any sign of life, DK and Taylor made their way across the floor. When DK kicked in yet another door and went into the apartment to check, he found a disturbed woman in a foetal position next to her bed.

"Ma'am!" he called out as he approached her. She slightly turned her head.

"You have to get out of here! NOW!" But instead of letting DK help her, she started screaming and kicking and DK could do nothing more than retreat into a safe distance.

"Get away from me!" the woman screamed.

"Ma'am, the building's on fire, you need to get out!" the firefighter tried to reason with her, but to no avail. The woman started huddling in the corner farthest away from him.

DK sighed and reached for his microphone that was attached to a strap across his upper body.

"Taylor, come in." Maybe she could help him out here.

"10-4, where are you?" Taylor's voice cracked through the radio.

"Rescue, is there a problem?" they could hear Johnson's voice now.

"Lieu, there's a woman here, refusing to leave," DK radioed in. He told Alex where they were and only seconds later, she was with him.

"Get her out!" Johnson ordered and both DK and Taylor knew what that meant. They would have to knock her out if everything else failed.

DK told her what had happened only minutes before.

"I can't get close to her, she puts up one hell of a fight," he added and watched the woman in the corner, her body trembling.

"I'll try…," Alex said, took off her helmet, her oxygen tank and her jacket and slowly approached the woman.

"Ma'am…I'm Alex…everything's okay, you don't need to be afraid…" The firefighter went down on her knees when she was only a few feet away.

The woman looked at her and the trembling decreased slightly. She cried. Her left eye was bruised, so were her wrists. And from what Alex could tell, the woman's night gown was hiding more bruises.

"Did you do this?" Taylor addressed DK, but he shook his head.

"I didn't even touch her…Alex, we need to get out!" His voice told him it was time to hurry.

She signed him to give her another moment.

"Ma'am…the building's on fire. We need to get you out of here, so you will be safe…"

Slowly, Alex reached out for the woman in the corner, not moving her eyes away from her. The woman seemed to think for a moment before she finally took Taylor's hand and let her help her up.

"We got her, Lieu," DK radioed in for his superior to know as he watched Alex guiding the woman out of the bedroom. He didn't know what had freaked her out like that, but he decided it would be a good idea to keep a distance between himself and that frightened woman. Alex put on her gear again and together, the two women made their way outside where the paramedics were already waiting.

* * *

Andrea Goldstein had been admitted to Mercy's psychological ward for a 72-hour suicide watch, so Detectives Stabler and Benson were back in their squad room. Benson was holding a file, leaning against her desk while her partner was getting them some coffee.

"There's only one Squad 55 with the FDNY," she told Stabler.

"Any personnel with priors?" he wanted to know while he poured the hot liquid into two mugs.

Olivia shook her head. "No, nothing. But that doesn't mean there aren't any offenders. Only that the person hasn't been caught yet."

Stabler turned around to her, offering her one of the mugs.  
"You know, one thing I love about you is your positive attitude…"

Olivia smiled slightly and took a gulp of coffee before she put it down again.

"Let's go and check them out."

* * *

A few minutes after 5 p.m., both crews of 55-David and 55-Charlie had reported back to the precinct. Now they were waiting for the details to their assignment. Both, DEA and Anti-Crime had sent representatives to fill in the uniformed officers.

DEA agent McCarthy was in his mid-thirties, with light brown hair and green eyes. He was of average height and wore black slacks and a grey sweatshirt under a dark blue windbreaker with yellow letters on the back, identifying him as a member if the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Next to him, at least 5 inches shorter, was Sergeant Cruz from Anti-Crime. She wore the same windbreaker, only with NYPD inscribed on the back; blue denim pants and a black tank top. Being of Hispanic origin, Maritza Cruz had long black hair which she was wearing in a pony tail; dark eyes and a look on her face that made her look like she was permanently in a bad mood.

"Listen up," she raised her voice although the room only held 6 people.

"You will join our operation on the front lines, so when you change into your civvies, don't forget your vests!"

Sully leant closer to Faith and rolled his eyes.

"How stupid they think we are?" he whispered and made Faith smile.

"Well, you certainly look like a rookie," she teased back, not increasing Sullivan's mood at all.

Unimpressed by that little conversation, McCarthy started to lay out the details of the operation.

"We'll be leaving in 10, so hurry up! If you're not downstairs by then, you won't go at all."

He gave Cruz a slight nod to indicate he was done. She clapped her hands once as a starting sign.

"Okay, people, let's move!"

* * *

The beeping of the fire engine backing up into the fire house was echoing through the whole street, followed by the lights and siren of a squad car leaving the police precinct on the other side of the street. Sooty, exhausted and hungry, the firemen got out of their bunk gear and went upstairs to shower. A man, approximately 6 feet tall, in a suit, with almost razor cut black hair; and a woman, a good head shorter than him, also in business clothes, with chin long, light brown hair were approaching the main entrance of the fire house. Instantly, some of the firefighters turned and knew they were cops. Lieutenant Johnson stopped by them.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Both Detectives drew their badges and showed them.

"I'm Detective Benson," the woman said and pointed over to her partner.

"And this is Detective Stabler, we're both from Special Victims Unit. Is there a place where we can have a word with you?"

Johnson already didn't like where this was going, but he pointed upstairs.

"My office…"

As soon as they were all inside the office, Johnson closed the door and motioned for them to sit down.

"So?" he simply asked.

"Sir, we're investigating the rape a woman, claiming she was raped by firemen. She identified her attacker by the shield on his helmet. He seems to come from this squad," Benson explained.

"One of my men? No way," Johnson said and they could both tell he meant it. But inside his head, a little warning bell went off. The problems with the woman from the last fire came to mind.

"Your squad is the only 55 in the FDNY…," Stabler added.

"That doesn't mean he's one of my men!" Johnson contradicted.

"I've known most of these men for many years and no-one would be capable of rape!"

"With all due respect, Lieutenant, but sometimes you don't know certain things from people. You wouldn't believe how often…," Stabler went on, but the Lieutenant cut him off.

"We're on duty for 24 hours on one shift, Detectives. We eat together, we talk, we sleep here – some of these guys are closer than wife and husband. It's not just work. And believe me, you learn ALL you can about your fellow firefighter. You have to trust him blindly when push comes to shove, Detective. It's like with you guys. But much closer. These guys are family. We know each other inside out. There's no way someone of my squad did this!"

"We're just following the leads, Lieutenant," Benson said and raised.

"Now you have. And now I would kindly ask you to leave my house!"

Stabler raised as well.

"We'll be back, Lieutenant. And your stubbornness will not help – neither you nor the one who did this."

Johnson raised and they both could tell the anger rising in him.

"Get out of my house! Now!"

Stabler and Benson looked at each other and left the office.

As soon as they were out, Johnson closed the door louder than he intended to and sat down at his desk, head in his hands.

There was no way he had a rapist in his squad. He had to believe that. These were his men. Period.


	7. Chapter 7

When the door of Lieutenant Johnson's office banged shut, everybody in the squad turned to see why. Neither of them had gone upstairs to shower and clean up, since they all wanted to know what was going on. Benson and Stabler were moving toward the stairs when Benson's cell phone chirped. She answered it, listened for a moment and hung up again. "We have another rape victim," she said to her partner in a whisper, but the others heard her nonetheless.

"That's why you're here? You think one of us is a rapist?"

"Not now, DK," Johnson interrupted him, standing in the doorway of his office. None of the others had noticed him coming out again.

"They were just about to leave, weren't you, Detectives?"

Stabler's eyes locked on Johnson's for a moment.

"We'll be back, Lieutenant," Stabler said, while Johnson held the stare.

"Is that a thread?"

Benson took over now. "No, Sir, it's a promise."

And with that, they left the station house.

* * *

"Is it true, Lieu?" Walsh wanted to know when he could be sure the Detectives couldn't eavesdrop anymore. It had become quiet in the squad room, with all eyes resting on Johnson. When he didn't answer right away, they knew the answer anyway. Chatter started. Nobody could believe that they were even considered suspects, let alone that someone could even suggest one of them could be a violent sex offender.

"They can't be serious!" Doherty said in an angry voice.

"I'm afraid they are," Johnson finally said and the chatter died away immediately.

"That's bull! And you know it!" Alex threw in, her voice calm. She knew there was no reason to get all upset to Lieu about it.

"Yes, and that's exactly what I told them too."

Johnson looked over his crew, still dirty with soot and smelling after fire, just like him. He forced a smile, despite his feelings inside.

"Go clean up yourselves; you look like you've been in a fire!"

A few started to laugh, some others smiled.

"Just following your example, Lieu," Alex said and gave him a wink. That was the reason Johnson was their boss and damn good at it. He always knew what to say in the right moment to cheer up the mood or ease the tension.

When they were all starting to get up the stairs to the second floor, where the showers and lockers were along with their beds, Johnson smiled. This time it was sincere. From this instance on, he knew that none of his men was what Special Victims Unit thought one of them was - a rapist. Those were his men. And he would stand by them, no matter what.

* * *

It was a quiet street, with only an occasional car passing. Nobody noticed the plumber van sitting on the curb just opposite the house the suspected drug kitchen was in. Nobody paid any attention to the drunk, obviously passed out on the stoop next to that house. A man was walking his dog further down the street, while two more men were working on their car to get the engine to run again. It was slowly getting dark and it had started to rain. Inside the plumber truck was more commotion than one would suspect. It was a surveillance van for the raid. McCarthy and Cruz were in there, paying close attention to the house's entrance. They were waiting for a special someone to show up before they would hit. Finally, after more than 30 minutes, a silver SUV pulled up in front of the house and a Hispanic looking male got out; oblivious of the van, the passed out drunk, the men working on their car and the man walking his dog.

McCarthy and Cruz waited several moments after the man had vanished into the building, until they gave their "Go" signal. Instantly, the street came to live with several police and Drug Enforcement officers, all heading towards the building, in which they suspected a drug kitchen. All officers wore their badges on a chain around their necks, so they were identifiable as officers of the Law. Cruz ordered Boscorelli, Davis and two of McCarthy's people to the back, while McCarthy, Sullivan, Yokas and herself would go in at front. All others were to stay outside to keep any suspects from fleeing the scene.

The front team waited a few moments until they could be sure the other team was in position in the back. Everybody had been ordered to keep radio silence until they were inside, so nobody inside would be warned by any radio transmission. So the team around Cruz depended on timing from the other team to make their hit as synchronic as possible. Boscorelli and his team arrived in back right about the same moment as Cruz' team hit the front door.

"Police, everybody freeze!" McCarthy yelled as soon as the door was open and he heard several other raid members yell the same all over the ground floor. Hastily, men tried to get away through windows, others tried to run by the officers – both of which failed. Boscorelli was already on the first floor, moving along the floor while pressed as flat against the wall as possible, gun drawn. He came by a door and stopped. For a second he listened, his ear against the door. Although he didn't hear any sounds coming from the inside, he decided to check. He started to move away from the door when it got kicked from the inside and flew open. Bosco got fully hit by it and was taken aback, crushing down on side, hard. For a second, he couldn't breathe, the fall having knocked the wind out of him. When he finally was able to catch his breath again, he cursed.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled and looked around. The suspect was already down the stairs and probably out of the house again by the time Bosco grabbed for his radio.

"One got away! I repeat: one got away!" he radioed in and was immediately met with a reply.

"Don't worry, Bosco, I got your package." It was Sully's voice and when Boscorelli heard that, he couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Way to go, Sully…" he whispered and got up again. They still had a lot of work to do.

* * *

This time, the alleged rape victim had already been released from the hospital again and was sitting at a wooden table in an interrogation room of Special Victim's Unit's. Her hands were trembling when she held a cup filled with coffee with both her hands. Opposite her, Detective Benson was seated, notepad and pen in front of her to take notes. Her partner was next door, watching the scenery through a one-way mirror, which allowed him to see everything that went on in the interrogation room. But the suspect or interviewee only saw a regular mirror. Stabler was listening through the intercom system, while his partner asked the usual questions to get the victim used to the situation and to make her as comfortable as possible – if one could ever get comfortable in a situation like that.

The woman had stated that her name was Jessica Vance and that she was 27 years old. After that, Olivia asked her what had happened and Jessica's face went blank, as if her body had suddenly been drained from all emotions. Stabler made a mental note to himself to get in touch with a counselor and refer Ms Vance to her.

"I came back from the pharmacy…," he then heard here voice through the intercom and focused on what she was saying.

"I have had a fever since the night before and wanted to get some meds for it."

"Do you know the time when you came back?" Benson wanted to know.

Jessica slightly tilted her head sideways and thought for a moment.

"I don't know exactly…must've been around 9 am, I remember hearing Mrs. Andrew's alarm clock. She works at a store nearby and needs to be at work by 10. She always gets up around 9."

Benson scribbled the information down in her notepad with a note that they would need to talk to that Mrs. Andrews.

"I took some Tylenol and went to bed again. I woke up when something touched my face. At first, I thought it was a dream and I wanted to turn around and go back to sleep, but then…"

She stopped for a moment to gather herself. It was clearly visible that it wasn't easy for her to tell all this to a stranger. At that moment, Benson knew that Jessica Vance had been raped. She quickly looked up at the mirror and knew her partner was thinking the same thing.

"When I opened my eyes, there was this man…in a firefighter's outfit, you know, the stuff they wear in a fire…"

"Bunk gear," Benson helped out.

"Yeah, that … he was standing at my bedside, watching me. I thought that the fever was making me see things, but when I wanted to go back to sleep, he grabbed me and pulled me out of bed…and then he…he…" She broke out in tears. Her arms folded around her upper body, she started to rock back and forth in the chair she was sitting in.

Benson waited a moment. This was also hard on her, being the child of a rape herself. After all that time in SVU, she still didn't know how to react properly in a situation like that. So she just waited until Jessica stopped crying again.

"Do you think you could describe that man to a sketch artist?" she finally asked.

The woman shook her head slightly.

"He wore this breathing mask; I couldn't really see his face. But I remember his eyes…they were dark, cold…no, there was one emotion in there." She practically spit out the last few words.

"He was enjoying what he was doing…"


	8. Chapter 8

By now, the whole neighborhood knew about the raid, either because of all the commotion around one specific house or because of the various police vehicles blocking off the street. One handcuffed man after another was being escorted out of the house and into one of the NYPD vans that had been ordered by Sergeant Cruz from Anti-Crime. Occasionally, there was a woman to be arrested as well and escorted the same way as their male opponents.

Bosco had already recovered from the blow of the door, but he feared that – underneath his vest – he was starting to develop bruises. While he searched the first floor, along with Sullivan, Davis and Yokas, he felt that certain movements started to hurt, but Boscorelli was determined not to let anybody see that.

Meanwhile, Maritza Cruz and McCarthy from DEA had found what they had been looking for: the basement would have served for a lab in a research facility, hadn't it been for all that suspicious white powder that was covering the whole equipment.

"Score!" McCarthy said and smiled. Even Cruz allowed herself to enjoy a little of that sweet taste of success, but only for a moment.

"Smell that?" she asked and slowly moved towards where she thought the smell came from. McCarthy drew in some air sharply and when he smelled the same thing, he was already on the radio.

"DEA Sergeant to Central, we need fire at this location forthwith!" A blink of an eye later, a woman's voice came back over the radio.

"10-4, Sergeant. Fire's on the way."

Cruz was now in front of a door leading away from the lab. She put her hand on the door, but quickly withdrew it again.

"It's hot," she told McCarthy and for a moment thought about what to do next.

Opening that door would probably blow up that whole building.

"Get everybody out," Cruz ordered, although the DEA agent held seniority in that situation.

"What're you up to?" McCarthy wanted to know, his voice showing clearly what he thought of Cruz ordering him around. But a cry from the other side of the door stopped them both in their tracks. Cruz looked at McCarthy and at that moment, they both knew what to do.

"Get everybody out! Now!"

McCarthy simply nodded and headed upstairs, while Sergeant Cruz drew in a deep breath, prayed for the fire department to show up in any second and opened the door…

* * *

When the alarm sounded, Squad 55 and Ladder 100 were on their way to their assigned location in less than two minutes. While they were all anxious to see and fight the fire, the usual chit chat was going on in the cabin.

"Hey DK, how's stuff with your girl going?" Walsh asked, head slightly tilted to the right towards the back, his eyes staying on the road. This way, he couldn't see the smile his colleague showed, but the others could.

"That good, huh?" Jimmy Doherty asked and joined DK's smile.

"Are you ever gonna introduce us to her?" Lombardo wanted to know. He even managed to sound disappointed that so far, DK hadn't even given them a name to work with.

"A gentleman keeps quiet and enjoys," DK returned and leant back in his seat. He enjoyed the teasing.

"That means _you_ can tell us," Johnson kidded from the front passenger's seat.

"You heard Lieu…" Jimmy said, the smile on his face already morphing into a grin. Now DK had to tell.

"Another time, boys – we're here!" Johnson interrupted and as soon as Walsh had stopped the truck, everybody jumped out and grabbed their gear. Officers Sullivan and Davis already came running towards them.

"Hurry up, we still have people inside!" Davis told them, trying to catch his breath again.

"Where and how many?" Johnson asked while his mind was already racing on how to get those people out of that burning building.

"Cruz is downstairs, trying to find any people trapped down there," Sully started.

"Has anyone heard from Bosco?" Davis asked no-one in particular.

Lieutenant Johnson turned around to his men.

"Listen up, boys! We still have at least two police officers in this building, maybe some civilians as well. Taylor, DK, Walsh – you're search and rescue, Doherty – you're nozzle man, Lombardo – you're with Jimmy."

The minute they started to walk towards the burning building, something inside exploded…


	9. Chapter 9

After Jessica Vance had made her statement and was on her way home in a squad car, Captain Cragen went over to Benson's and Stabler's desks. Stabler was leaning back in his chair going through a file, while his partner was entering Vance's statement into the computer.

"What do we have so far?" he wanted to know.

"Our man's been busy," Stabler returned sarcastically, putting the file down on his desk and sitting up again before he started to give his superior the information they had.

"The perp was wearing turnout gear every time, including the breathing mask. The number on the helmet says 55 and he has brown, cold eyes."

"We talked to the Lieutenant at Squad 55; he swears that none of his men did it," Benson completed.

"And a boss covering one of his workers is evidence how?" Cragen asked; his hands jammed into the pockets of his suit pants.

"What are we supposed to do? We don't have a name, let alone a description – we basically have nothing to go on," Stabler said, frustration showing in his voice.

"How about some good old police work?"

Cragen looked at his Detectives. His last sentence hadn't been a question, it had been an order. Stabler sighed, got up and grabbed his jacket.

"Let's go and ask around…"

* * *

The second Cruz opened the door; she was sent flying through the air by an explosion, her body crushing against the opposite wall. Catching her breath, Sergeant Cruz found herself unable to move. Panic arose inside of her when she watched the fire started making its way through the newly won space. She started praying for someone to find her until the pain grew unbearably and she lost consciousness.

As soon as the heat had passed, firefighters and cops were on their feet again. Shouts echoed through the air when commands were yelled. Only seconds after the blast, the men of Squad 55 were on their way into the building that was now engulfed in flames.

"You think they'll find them?" Davis asked his partner. They were watching the scene from a short distance. When Sully didn't reply, but only starred into the orange flames coming out the windows, Davis knew the answer. Chances were that there would be only dead bodies to find…

* * *

Heat greeted DK, Taylor, Walsh, Doherty and the others as soon as they were approaching the building. The front door was already gone, flames coming out the doorway, working its way up to the other floors from the outside now. The firefighters ducked and moved in. Rescue was their primary assignment, so they hurried to get inside. Jimmy was already working to get the fire out around the stairs so his colleagues could use them while Walsh and DK went to search the basement and Taylor and Lombardo took the first floor. The stairs were already severely damaged by the flames, but watching their steps, they managed to get to the upper floor. The fire wasn't as evolved as it was downstairs, so the starting point must have been downstairs as well.

"Hello? Anybody up here? Fire Department!" Lombardo shouted over the cracking of the flames. They both listened but soon realized they couldn't hear anything over that noise. So their only option was to go from room to room and look for people that might still be up there.

While Lombardo and Taylor searched upstairs, Walsh and DK made their way to the basement. The stairs were basically gone, same as most of the rest.

"Hello?" DK shouted, but he received no answer.

Walsh looked at him and knew what he was thinking. There was no way that someone would have survived down there. They turned to go when Walsh stopped dead in his tracks.

"You hear that?"

DK stopped and listened as well, but shook his head.

Walsh listened again. "I could swear I heard something," he said, wondering if he started to imagine things.

They both listened once again, hoping that there was someone down there, alive.

"I'm here…"

There it was! This time, they had both heard it.

"55 Rescue to Squad, we have one alive in the basement, repeat: we have one alive in the basement!" DK radioed in while Walsh was getting ready for a rope rescue.

"10-4, rescue – what's your 10-10?"

"We are at the stairwell to the basement – we're going down."

"Copy that, rescue! Help's on the way," Johnson replied and looked around for available men.

"Mac, Logan, grab your gear…"


	10. Chapter 10

Andrea Goldstein had been released from the suicide watch and was home again. Apparently, the psychologists thought she posed no threat for others or herself anymore. She was sitting in her La-Z-Boy, wearing her black sweats pants and a vanilla-yellow sweatshirt. Beside her on a small wooden coffee table was a mug, filled with already cold cappuccino. Andrea was just there, starring at an imaginary point at her living-room wall. When the doorbell rang, she jumped, almost falling out of her chair. She was neither ready to have visitors yet, nor did she expect anyone. Careful not to make a sound that would tell the person who rang she was home, Andrea motioned for the door. Through her peephole she saw those two Detectives who had been working her rape.

Turning the locks, she slowly opened the door, but only to peek through.

"Yes?" she asked in a hollow voice. The Detectives knew in an instance that Andrea Goldstein still didn't manage well to cope with what had happened to her.

"Miss Goldstein, can we talk to you for a moment? We need to ask you a few more questions," Detective Benson said in a comforting tone.

"What questions?"

"We'd rather not ask them out here…Do you mind letting us in?" Stabler wanted to know. The neighbors didn't need to know what was going on and why the police wanted to talk to Andrea Goldstein. He knew how things could get out of hand solely on gossip.

The woman opened the door a bit more to let them in. Then she locked the door again as soon as they had moved over the threshold. She went back to her La-Z-Boy and motioned for the Detectives to take a seat on the couch.

Benson got out her notepad, turned a few pages and looked at Andrea.

"You said you didn't see the man's face…did you see his eyes?"

Almost unnoticeably, Andrea nodded.

"What did they look like?"

She had to take a deep breath before she answered in a trembling voice.

"Brown…and cold…" She started to shiver although the heat was up in the apartment. Stabler felt sorry for her, having her remember it all again. But they had to know. If they wanted to find the perpetrator, they needed every little detail.

"Do you remember anything else?" Benson asked, but Goldstein shook her head.

"Just the pain…" she sobbed. She was trying hard to keep the tears back.

Stabler decided to try something else. He knew that some turnout gear jackets had the names of the firefighter on them.

"Do you remember if there was a name on the jacket?"

Andrea thought for a long moment, then suddenly she sat up straight; her eyes widened.

"Yes!" she was getting excited.

"It started with a K!"

* * *

Within minutes, backup was at the stairwell to the basement. Walsh was already hanging over the edge with DK securing him. The flames were closing in, both in the basement and on the ground floor. Billy could feel the heat greeting him and he felt sweat running down his neck as he made his way down. As soon as he felt the floor beneath his feet, he freed himself from the rope.

"Where are you?" he shouted, but the second the words had left his mouth, he found Maritza Cruz leaning against the wall right from him. He hurried towards her. She was conscious, but still wasn't able to get up without help. Just as he wanted to take her into a firefighter's hold, she defended herself against it.

"Don't mind me…there are people inside that room over there!" she yelled over the fire, pointing to the room where the fire had started. Billy followed her pointing and nodded. Then he grabbed her anyway and managed to set her up for rope rescue. After Walsh had made sure that Cruz was on a safe way up, he turned towards the other room.

The fire was closing in and for a moment, it seemed like he wouldn't have a chance getting anywhere but upstairs again.

"You okay down there?" he heard DK ask over the radio. Walsh gave him a "thumbs up" and tried to make his way through the flames.

While Walsh was checking downstairs, DK and MacNamara were carrying Cruz out. She had lost consciousness from the smoke and her injuries. As soon as they were outside, Doc Parker and Kim Doherty came running towards them, a gurney between them. The firefighters carefully lowered Cruz's body onto the gurney, so the paramedics could do their job.

"Where's Walsh?" Johnson asked as soon as he had reached his men.

"Downstairs, checking for survivors," Mac told his Lieutenant.

Johnson looked up towards the top of the burning building. His features didn't promise anything good.

"You better make it quick! The building doesn't look like it will hold much longer!" he ordered.

"Got it," DK acknowledged and went back inside again, followed by MacNamara.


	11. Chapter 11

An additional canvass of the neighborhood where Andrea Goldstein lived had turned up nothing, so Detectives Stabler and Benson returned to their Squad again to try something different to identify the perpetrator. Their plan was to get photos of the members of Squad 55 to show them to the victims.

While Stabler was on the phone, working on the photo IDs, Benson was checking the names to rule out those not starting with a "K". To be on the safe side, she also wanted to keep the names in that had a "K" somewhere in their name.

Her partner sighed and returned the phone handle to the cradle.

"They'll fax us those IDs," he informed his partner. He got up, went over to the sideboard where the coffee corner was and got himself a cup of that hot, amber liquid and went back to his desk, putting another cup of coffee on his partner's desk. She nodded "thanks" and went on to share her findings with him. Both searches had only returned one name: Derek Kitson.

"Kitson, huh?" Stabler said, looking at the name. He couldn't remember to have talked to anyone with that name at the firehouse.

A uniformed officer came in, holding up some pieces of paper.

"Detectives, this fax came for you."

Stabler grabbed it, thanked Officer Malcolm and went to his desk. His partner watched him for a while, getting anxious.

"And?" she asked after what seemed minutes to her.

Elliot held up a picture, showing a man with dark hair and brown eyes.

"Olivia, meet Firefighter Derek Kitson…"

* * *

There was no doubt to Walsh that the fire had started in that back room. Virtually every spot was burning, making it hard to see or hear anything. Wood was cracking while it burnt; glass splintered and then melted in the heat. The air was almost unbearable hot. Walsh heard his radio cracking.

"Billy, where are you?" It was Johnson.

"Back room, the fire started here. I'm checking for people…"

"Make it quick, the building won't hold much longer!" He could hear worry out of his boss' voice.

"10-4," Billy acknowledged and went on.  
Suddenly, the building shook. Walsh immediately got down on all fours and hoped for the ceiling to hold just a little longer.

When he was down, he felt something touch his arm. It was a child, hiding it what seemed to be a secret stash hidden beneath the floor.

At once, Billy called it in.

"I got a life one in the back room! Repeat, I got a life one in the back room!"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the child and retreated. He took his mask off and put it over the little boy's face.

"Just breathe, kid, we'll get you out of here!" Walsh tried to re-assure the frightened child that couldn't be older than 6 years old. The boy looked at the fireman and the fear disappeared, as if he knew he was going to be safe now. He was completely calm, his arms around Billy's neck, as they tried to make it to the spot where DK would be waiting with the rope.

Billy knew it was against the rules, but he opened his bunk gear jacket and made sure it covered the boy in his arms as well.

The house shook again, giving Walsh a hard time to keep his balance.

"Walsh, where are you? We can't hold it much longer!" DK's voice came over the radio.

But before Walsh could return anything, his colleague came into view, looking down from upstairs.

And as if on cue, the building shook once more and the ceiling came down with a cracking sound, burying Walsh and the kid underneath it…


	12. Closing In

Detective Stabler and his partner Detective Benson were on their way to Andrea Goldstein. They had a so called "six pack" with them, a photo array containing six pictures, with one being the suspect. Five other pictures were stand-ins, pictures of people that looked slightly like the suspect as well. Their suspect was Derek Kelly, a firefighter with Squad 55. It would be a tough ID, both Detectives knew that, since the victims had basically just seen the eyes of the perp. But however slim their chance was, they had to take it.

The drive was quiet. Neither of the Detectives spoke. Each was preoccupied by their own thoughts. Stabler still wasn't convinced that a New York City firefighter could be a serial rapist, but he knew his partner had a different opinion about it.

Finally, after almost 30 minutes of stop and go traffic through Manhattan, they arrived. Stabler pulled the car over to a vacant parking spot within walking distance of the building.

Andrea Goldstein reluctantly let them into her apartment again. She still hadn't recovered from what had happened to her and Benson knew from her work experience that it would take a while until she could go back to her normal life.

"Miss Goldstein, we brought you some pictures. Can you tell us if one of these men is the man who raped you?" Benson asked as sensitive as possible while her partner handed Goldstein the six pack.

Looking at each man carefully, slowly moving to the next one, Andrea shook her head over and over again. Man number three, four, five. Nothing. Olivia could feel her hopes vanish. It had been a slim chance, yes, but still.

Andrea Goldstein was still looking at that last picture, almost focusing it.

"Do you know this man, Miss Goldstein?" Stabler asked.

Slowly, she nodded and the Detectives could see her eyes watering up.

"Where do you know him from?"

"This is the man who did this…"

She threw the six pack away and ran into her bedroom, crying. Benson got up to go after her, giving her partner a questioning look.

"Who?"

Stabler got out the picture and held it up, so that Olivia could see it.

"Derek Kitson…"

Inside the partially collapsed building, Walsh was getting tired. He checked on the boy half beneath him regularly to see if he was still breathing. Sometimes, the boy would open his eyes for a moment, but quickly passed out again. A little while ago, Billy had put his breathing mask over the boy's face, so he could breathe. Every now and then, the firefighter would take a deep breath from his mask too. That always ended up in a coughing fit. Billy knew they had to get out of there quickly or it would be his last fire.

A floor above him, DK was trying to make his way out of the debris. He knew help was on the way, so he tried to find Walsh.

"Billy…" he yelled over and over again.

"Where are you? Can you hear me?"

DK looked at the clock. He knew that Billy had been in for a while, and his tank was running low. They were running out of time. And the fires were coming closer by the minute, so DK started to look frantically for the rope that he had used to send Walsh down to the basement, all the while yelling for his fallen comrade.

He was tired. So damn tired. Somewhere at the back of his head he knew it was from the lack of oxygen, but he couldn't bring himself to take the breathing mask away from the kid. His lunges were hurting from the smoke. Billy just wanted to rest his head for a moment, close his eyes. Just for a little while. But then he heard his PASS alarm next to him. He wasn't moving, that's why it went off. Billy moved the mask a little and it stopped. He took one more breath from the mask, then gave it back to the boy. One more time, he was sent into a coughing fit that made his throat and lungs hurt even more. The void he was in was illuminated in orange-red from the flames. It was hot. He could feel the heat on his hands and face, where his skin wasn't covered. So tired.

DK stopped in his tracks when he heard a beeping sound. He stood still and listened. It was somewhere below him. But just when he thought he had pinpointed it, the beeping stopped. DK cursed. He groped for his radio again to let Johnson know that he thought he knew where Walsh was.

"Hang on, Billy…almost there!" he yelled, not sure whether his friend would hear him or not.

Billy forced his eyes open again. He thought he had heard his name. He shook his head slightly and checked on the boy again. The pulse was getting weaker and the breathing more shallow. Walsh tried once again to move, but he was pinned and too weak already to make a difference.

All he wanted to do was sleep. His head sank down onto his head when another sound was forcing him back into reality. This time, it wasn't the PASS alarm…it was his oxygen tank. It was empty…


	13. Found

The beeping fainted. Walsh had this calming feeling inside of him. He would die in here. He whispered goodbye to his family, his friends. He told the boy next to him that he was sorry. Sorry about not getting him out. And with that thought, Billy Walsh was slowly sliding into unconsciousness…

From the outside, the firefighters of Squad 55 were frantically trying to get to where they assumed their colleagues. Additional engines had been called in for backup. The street looked like a convention of emergency workers by now. Cops were helping to get the debris away from the site, all while keeping people away from the scene. Firefighters from other Companies were dealing with the fires that were still going, while others were trying to stabilise the rest of the building that was still standing. While Doherty and the others were digging, Alex tried her radio again.

"DK, you copy?"

It took a moment for the radio to react. But finally, a voice could be heard over the cracking static sound.

"Yeah!"

"We're coming to get you, okay? Just hang on!" Alex almost yelled into her mike.

"Hurry up! I can hear Walsh's tank…it's empty! He's close, but I can't find him!" DK returned, out of breath. He sounded worried. Worried they would not make it in time.

"Can you get to him?"

"I'm trying to! You better hurry!" And with that, she lost him.

DK was hearing the beeping sound. He knew he was coming closer. He threw debris out of the way, trying to get to his friend. DK didn't know where he was or how far away from the surface he was, but he didn't care. He had to find his friend before it was too late. He simply had to. The beeping came closer. And all of a sudden, DK's hand felt something…

Billy woke with a start. He opened his eyes and was blinded by a white light.

"So this is it," he thought, not aware that he had spoken it out loudly.

"No it's not! It's just me," he heard a familiar voice. Then something was pulling him.

It took Walsh a little while to realise what was going on. That he wasn't dead. He had been found…

"Billy, can you hear me?" DK almost yelled, partly out of fear that he was too late, partly because of joy that he had found him after all. He slapped his friend's face with his gloved hand.  
"Hey…what was that for?" Billy returned weakly. DK couldn't help but laugh. He took off his mask and placed it over Billy's face.

"Take some deep breaths, bro!" he ordered and Walsh obeyed. But as soon as the oxygen hit his lungs, he started coughing again.

"Check…the…boy!" he managed to say between coughs.

DK reached over to do so.

"He's got a pulse…" Then he reached for his radio.

"Kitson to Squad 55…"

Johnson heard his radio crack. It was DK.

"Kitson to Squad 55, you copy?"

The Lieutenant grabbed his radio.

"10-4," he acknowledged, letting him know he was listening.

"I found Walsh, he's okay, but pinned. The boy's with him. Vitals are there, but weak. We could really need some help here…"

Johnson let out a sigh of relief.

"We're on our way!"

He hurried over to his crew and told them that both DK and Walsh were accounted for. All they had to do now was to get them out safely.

* * *

Shift had been busy so far. The raid was over and slowly, squad cars were turning up at the precinct with arrested suspects. Lieutenant Swersky was at the front desk again, co-ordinating where suspects were brought and when they were booked, while answering phone calls and monitoring the radio talk. He knew about the fire and about the collapse. Cops might not always get along with the firefighters, but they helped each other out, so Swersky had sent some additional units over to the location to help. Even if he wasn't sure that there was anything his men could do.

The Lieutenant was looking up something in a file when a man approached the front. He was wearing brown pants, a black shirt that had a tear in it at the front, and a grey windbreaker. He seemed nervous, but determined.

"Can I help you?" Swersky asked, trying to juggle all the things he was doing at the moment and watching two of his officers bringing in a muscled man clearly on narcotics.

"I'm wanted for robbery in New Jersey," the man said.

"And I want to turn myself in," he added.

Swersky was trying to listen to that man and trying to ignore the ringing phone at the same time, but incoming officers with handcuffed prisoners in tail he couldn't ignore. For all he knew this man was an escapee from Bellevue or otherwise wacko, so he wasn't really taking him too seriously. No criminal who had at least a little more brain than a baseball would turn himself in when he was wanted in another state.

"Did you hear what I just said?" the man demanded to know.

Lieutenant Swersky, being a little overworked at that time, didn't have the time to deal with some nut case at the moment, so he thought of something.

"That's all nice and well, but I'm kinda busy right now," Swersky finally returned.

"Either go to a Jersey precinct or come back again in 2 hours."

With that, the police Lieutenant picked up the phone that had been ringing like mad all the time.

The man turned around and left the 55th precinct.


	14. Chapter 14

Knowing that their friends were okay gave the crew of Squad 55 an extra boost. Within minutes, they were close enough to hear Walsh's empty oxygen tank beep and his coughing.

"Hold on, almost there!" Lombardo yelled and together with Doherty and MacNamara lifted a huge piece of debris that once had been part of the ground floor. Beneath, in a small void, they could see their colleagues.

DK looked up when the light hit them.

"Jimmy, you've never looked better!" he joked.

"You guys okay?" Jimmy asked in return, a small grin on his face.

"Take the boy out first, he's getting weaker!" DK said and handed him over to MacNamara.

"Now…get me the hell outta here!" Billy wasn't coughing as bad anymore, so he gave DK his mask back.

With three men, they managed to get the debris off Walsh's legs. As soon as he was free, he wanted to get up and walk out, but DK held him back.  
"Where you think you're going, bro?"

"I'm not going out here on a backboard!" Billy contradicted.

"That's exactly what you will be doing! That's an order!" he could hear Johnson from somewhere near. Billy sighed and laid back again until the orange backboard was handed down.

He knew the routine, had done it countless times before. But being the patient himself, he didn't like it at all.

Since Doc feared he might have a back injury, Walsh had to go through it all. He wasn't allowed to move at all. He could feel DK slipping the plastic C-collar under his neck and fastening it.

"I'm okay, rea-"

"Will you shut up?" DK returned. "I don't like this any more than you do, bro!"

And with that, Billy stayed silent, while DK and Jimmy rolled him onto the backboard, taping his head to it to secure his neck. Billy felt pinned, uncomfortable. He wasn't hurting anywhere, he could move his legs. Apart from the smoke inhalation, he was fine.

He closed his eyes while his colleagues were carefully lifting him out of the void where he had been and into the open. He felt the shaking and moving of them handing him down to the ground, where Doc and Alex were waiting.

"You scared us good there Billy!" Doc said while he was pointing his penlight into Walsh's eyes to see if the pupils would react to it.

"I didn't plan it that way…" Billy returned and held a cough back.

"How's the boy?" he wanted to know.

Doc was checking his blood pressure now.

"Going to Mercy, with Kim and Carlos. He's weak…"

Alex saw the look on Billy's face and knew what it meant. He was beating himself up inside for not being able to get the boy out earlier.

"You saved him," she said and smiled slightly, gently patting his shoulder.

Billy looked at her. He was fine, he could move, so he didn't need all this. She was a firefighter, she would understand.  
"Can you get me off this damn backboard?" he asked quietly, almost begging.

Doc smiled at that. He knew Alex was too much of a paramedic to break procedure.

"Sorry, Billy…you'll get a nice ride to Mercy first…"

When Walsh sighed, she winked at him.

"Don't worry, I'll ride with you in back…"

* * *

Dana Mitchell was on her way home. It had been an exhausting day at the day care center that she worked at. She was fumbling in her purse for her keys when her cell phone rang.

"Dammit, not now!" she cursed and tried to find her cell in that mess she called purse. Phone in one hand, keys in the other, Dana was trying to make her way into the building at least.

She managed to get the key into the lock, but dropped the phone.

"Dammit!" she cursed again and got it up again, hoping it would still work.

"Hello?" she said into the mouthpiece, but whoever had called her had already hung up again.

She went to her mailbox and caught some letters falling out of it when she opened the box. Going through her mail, she went towards her apartment on the ground floor. Suddenly, Dana felt someone close, but there was nobody there when she turned around.

"You're seeing ghosts now, honey," she whispered to herself and opened her apartment door.

Something pushed her inside, making her loose her balance and fall flat on her stomach. Dana screamed in surprise and wanted to turn around to have a look, but someone was grabbing her by her hair. She screamed again when she felt a fist meeting her jaw. After that, it was only darkness…

Dana woke up again, feeling a little drowsy from the punch in her face. It took her a moment to realise she was laying on her bed, tied up and gagged. She opened her eyes in horror, trying to get loose again. But with her hands tied to the bedposts, she had no chance. The rope was cutting into her wrists, almost cutting off the blood flow. She looked around in panic, looking for a way out, trying to find a way to get help. But the blinds were drown on her window, and her bedroom was in the back of the apartment. She couldn't scream, she couldn't move. Her eyes fixed a figure standing at the opposite wall of her bedroom - it was an FDNY firefighter in full gear…and he was coming closer to her, laughing.

"I hope you enjoy this as much as I will," he laughed, dropping his turnout pants. He was naked underneath it and only now did Dana understand what was going on. Her eyes widened in panic as the man came closer and closer, now almost next to her. Dana tried to move away, but she couldn't.

"Well, well…a little fighter, aren't we?" He moved his hand over her cheek, almost gently.

Then, he was trying to get on top of her, but suddenly, she started kicking. She didn't care what she hit, just as long as she could keep him away from her. At one point, she heard him moan and knew she had hit him where it hurt. For a moment, she thought she had made him go away. But just as Dana sighed, something hit her in the face again and she passed out…


	15. Chapter 15

At Angel of Mercy Hospital, Walsh was thoroughly checked out, much to his dismay. He was still wearing that collar and several nurses and a doctor were moving around him like moths dancing around an open flame.  
"I'm okay, really…" he said yet once more.  
He couldn't see Alex standing by the trauma room entrance. She was watching the whole scene, grinning. She was enjoying this.  
"Okay, Mr Walsh, we'll get you out of this C-Collar now. The X-rays show no sign of spinal injury," the doctor said.  
Billy sighed. That was about time. He bit his tongue not letting "I told you so" slip. He knew they were only doing their job.  
"Irish firefighters, stubborn as a mule," Billy heard Alex say while he was slowly getting up. He felt a little dizzy from laying flat on his back for such a long time and his lungs still hurt from the smoke inhalation, but other than that, he was fine.  
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Billy croaked. His voice sounded darker from the smoke and the coughing.  
"Come on, let us have some fun too here," Alex smiled.  
Walsh turned towards the doctor while buttoning his shirt again.  
"How's the boy?" he wanted to know.  
"He's in ICU, took in a lot of smoke, plus some broken bones. We'll have to wait and see." The doctor turned to go, but Walsh held him back.  
"What about that cop, I think her name is Cruz?"  
"She looked worse than she was. Broken leg, some bruises. She was lucky." And with that, the doctor finally left the trauma room.  
"You all were…" Alex said when the doctor was gone. When she saw Billy's puzzled look, she added: "Lucky I mean."  
"Well, I don't think the boy feels that lucky right now." He grabbed his turnout coat.  
"You got him out, Billy, that's all that counts."  
He turned to go.  
"But I did a lousy job with that…"

* * *

After Walsh had been discharged again with just a sore throat, the Squad returned to their quarters again to get cleaned up. Other companies had taken over at the collapsed building and from that Johnson had heard from the latest progress report, the fires were out and all civilians and officers had been accounted for.

Slowly, the squaddies were moving up the stairs of their firehouse. They were tired, dirty and hungry. And glad. That nobody of their company got seriously hurt. Now, they were all looking forward to a nice, hot shower. They let Alex go upstairs to the bunkroom first, so she could shower alone, being the only woman. Kim went to join her. It had been one hell of a call and she could use a shower as well. So the men stayed downstairs. MacNamara, Logan and Doherty let themselves fall into the nearest Lay-Z-Boys, while DK, Walsh and Lombardo invaded the kitchen area for something to eat and drink.

"Hey, Lieu, you want something too?" DK asked with a soda can in hand.

"No thanks, coffee will do," Johnson returned and made his way into his office.

But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw two familiar faces coming up the stairs.

"Detectives…"

Benson and Stabler took those last steps. Their faces were telling they weren't just popping in to say hello.

"What can we do for you?" Johnson asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"We have a warrant for Derek Kitson…"

"Derek Kitson, you are under arrest for the rape of Andrea Goldstein, you have the right to remain silent…," Detective Benson read DK his rights while she cuffed his hands behind his back.

"If this is a joke, I'm not getting it!" DK said, totally taken by surprise by that whole situation.

"Detectives, what's going on?" Johnson demanded to know, placing himself between the Detectives and the stairs.

"We have a witness who ID'd him as the man who raped her."

"That's bull!" Walsh hissed, but regretted it immediately. Everybody was standing by now, surrounding the Detectives who were about to take away one of them.

"Lieutenant, get out of our way…," Stabler warned with a very quiet voice, but Johnson didn't move an inch.

"Don't make me arrest you for obstructing justice…," he added.

"No one is arresting one of my men in my own firehouse!" Johnson returned in the same quiet voice Stabler had used. His blue eyes locked on Stabler's, he made no intention of letting them pass.

"It's okay, boss, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding!" He turned to face Benson.

"I didn't rape anybody!"

"Guess what, we've never heard that one before…," Benson said and gave her partner a look.

His eyes still on the Lieutenant, Stabler took a step towards him, wanting to grab Johnson's arm to arrest him as well. But Elliot didn't even get a hold of any of Johnson's body parts yet when he felt a blow to his chin.

The whole squad seemed to hold his breath; none of them had ever seen their Lieutenant strike someone before.

Stabler needed a second to steady himself again, but as soon as he was okay again, he got out his handcuffs and put them on Johnson.

"I warned you Lieutenant!" he said in a quiet, yet angry voice.

"So did I."


	16. Chapter 16

Two hours had passed and finally, it was calming down again in the precinct. All suspects were either already booked, being interrogated by Detectives or waiting in the holding cell. Most officers were already out on the streets again, doing business as usual.

Lieutenant Swersky was nipping on a cup of coffee, enjoying the short break of ringing phones. He was glad that nobody got hurt. From what he had heard, the firefighters across the street weren't seriously injured either.

A man entered the precinct, walking straight up to the front desk.

"I'm here now," the man addressed the Lieutenant again.

Swersky thought for a moment and finally remembered the man from earlier that day.

Se stepped away from the desk and approached the still unknown man and handcuffed him.

"Sir, you are under arrest for robbery. You have the right to remain…" the Lieutenant gave him his rights and escorted him upstairs. He couldn't believe that this man had been so stupid as to really come back to the precinct to get arrested.

In the room with the holding cells he found Officers James and Metcalfe. He explained the matter at hand and handed the handcuffed suspect over to them.

Before Swersky left him with the two officers, he turned around once more and managed a smile.

"Thanks for coming in, Sir. Now we are gonna friendly book you."

* * *

Officers Sullivan and Davis were out on the street in their squad car, cruising the neighborhood. Davis was humming some tune that had been stuck in his head since the morning when he had heard it on the radio.

"Will you stop that?" Sully growled.

"What? You don't like my humming?" Davis returned with a grin.

"No! Cause now I have that same stupid song stuck in MY head, thanks to you!"

"You call Linkin Park "stupid"?" Davis was enjoying himself. He loved to tease his partner about good moods and songs.

"Isn't that a park in Chicago?" Sully asked back when the radio cracked.

"55-David, possible assault at 1327 Arthur, Apartment 4C."

Sully reached for his radio and repeated the address while Davis hit the lights and siren.

* * *

Detective Stabler was standing in his Captain's office, looking through the one way mirror. Behind that mirror was one of the interrogation rooms, where Firefighter Derek Kitson was uncomfortable walking around the room.

"You like him for this?" Cragen wanted to know.

"We have a positive photo ID," Stabler said, but his voice was telling more than his words.

"Get the victim in here and have him in a line up," Cragen told his Detective. Photo IDs were one thing, but real people tend to look different.

"Where's Benson?" the Captain wanted to know, taking the seat behind his desk again.

"Talking to Andrea Goldstein again. What do we do with the Lieutenant?" Stabler asked, not taking his eyes off the suspect.

"That's up to you, you're the victim, Elliot." Captain Cragen took a look at Stabler's jaw from behind his desk.

"Got you pretty good, huh?"

Stabler grinned.

"Yeah, he has one hell of a punch…"

And with that, he went to question Derek Kitson.

* * *

When Stabler came out of the Captain's office, several men in firefighting gear came into the SVU office. Everybody turned to have a look and it went quiet for a moment.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday," Detective Fin Tutuola said quietly to his partner.

Stabler approached the group of firefighters.

"Can I help you?" he asked, looking from one to the other.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Walsh returned, his voice still rough from the fire.

Doherty signed him to be quiet, taking the lead.

"You arrested two of our men!" Jimmy said, stepping forward. Tensions were almost palpable in the room.

"One…your Lieutenant is free to go. About Kitson…we have evidence…"

"Evidence my ass!" MacNamara said from the back.

"He didn't do anything!" Alex added.

"Ma'am," Stabler started, provoking some "ooh"s from her colleagues. Alex was rarely addressed as "Ma'am", and if she was, she usually returned a wit remark. To everybody's surprise, Alex kept quiet this time.

"Look…I know you want to support your friend. But we have a witness. She can ID him as the man who raped her. Or…"

He put his hand up to sign the firefighters to let him finish.

"Or…she can exonerate your colleague. What you do here isn't helping him at all."

Jimmy looked down for a second; then faced Stabler again. His resistance was gone.

"Can we see our Lieu?" he asked, sounding like a small child who'd just been chastised.

Stabler nodded.

"Follow me…"


	17. Chapter 17

Lieutenant Johnson was waiting in an interrogation room. He had stopped pacing around and sat down at the table in the middle of the room. His head was now resting in his hands. The knuckles of his right hand had already turned blue from where they had met with the Detective's jaw. He still was convinced that DK was no rapist. Although Johnson knew that the Detectives wouldn't have arrested him, if they wouldn't have any evidence. Johnson sighed. This situation sucked.

The door opened and Stabler came in.

"There are some visitors to see you," he told Johnson.

Walsh, Doherty, MacNamara, Taylor and Lombardo came in.

"What are you doing here?" the Lieutenant asked in a serious voice. Although deep inside, he was proud of his men.

"We have Ladder 100 cover for us. We had to come and get you out," Jimmy explained.

"What happens now?" Johnson addressed Stabler.

Elliot told them about how DK would have to face a line up. If he was positively ID'd, he would be brought to Central Booking and charged with rape of at least one woman.

Before Johnson could say anything, Stabler opened the door again.

"You are free to go, Lieutenant," he said and pointed out.

Johnson got up reluctantly. He didn't want to leave DK behind, but at least he wasn't under arrest as well.

When he passed Elliot, he stopped.

"Sorry about that…," Johnson said, referring to the punch from earlier.

Stabler nodded simply. He showed the group of firefighters where they could wait until after the line up. After that, he went to finally question Firefighter Kitson.

* * *

DK was close to jumping out of his skin by now. Detectives had put him in this room what seemed hours ago and he still didn't know exactly why. He had been arrested because of rape, and although he knew it must be a misunderstanding, DK also knew that this whole mess could destroy his career. Once you were labeled "rapist", whether it was proven or just suspected, could destroy one's whole life.

He spun around when the door finally opened and that Detective from before came in, coffee mugs in both hands.

"Thought you'd like some coffee," Stabler said, offering DK one of the mugs he was holding.

"Thanks…," DK managed to say. He looked closely at the Detective, wondering what would happen to him now.

Stabler sat down, sipping his coffee and motioned for DK to sit down too. The firefighter did, surprised about the Detective's changed behavior.

"We have a witness that picked your picture out of a photo array," Elliot explained as if he had been reading DK's mind.

"I didn't do anything! And I certainly never raped anyone!" DK defended himself, although he feared it would do no good.

Stabler motioned the firefighter to calm down again.

"My partner is talking to one of the victims now…would you agree to do a line up?" Stabler asked matter-of-factly.

DK shrugged. He'd do anything to get this mess over with.

"Sure."

Stabler nodded and got out his notepad.

"We will have to verify some stuff first, okay?"

DK sighed, took a sip of his coffee and waited for the Detective to start. The jaw, where his Lieutenant had punched him, was already showing various shades of blue and green. It gave DK some kind of satisfaction, that his boss would do something like that to protect him. It was good to know that he believed in him and DK knew that all his friends from the firehouse wouldn't believe this ridiculous charge either.

Stabler looked at his notepad and started to ask DK about his alibi for the night, Andrea Goldstein had been raped, two weeks ago. DK thought for a moment.

"I can't remember now…I had off that night."

"Okay," Elliot said and scribbled something into his book.

"Anyone can alibi you?"

DK shook his head. He honestly couldn't remember what he had done that particular night.

Elliot nodded slightly and went on, asking him about the night of Jessica Vance's rape.

Again, DK thought hard on this one, when it hit him: The fighting woman at the fire the other night.

"I was working," DK told him.

"Your colleagues can verify that?"

DK jumped up, angry and helpless at the same time.

"Dammit, Detective, what do you want? Can you tell where you've been two weeks ago?" he snapped, not making sense of any of this. He knew he was innocent, but he also knew that it wouldn't matter.

"I'm not the one accused of raping two women, Mr Kitson," Stabler returned and got up when he heard a knock on the one-way mirror. His Captain had watched the whole time from his office, where the mirror was leading to.

"I'll be right back," Stabler excused himself and left DK alone again.


	18. Chapter 18

To Elliot's surprise, his partner Olivia Benson was with Captain Cragen when he entered the office.

"What's with the glove routine?" Olivia asked, surprised at how calm her partner had questioned a possible rape suspect.

Stabler looked at her, frowning.

"What glove routine?" he asked.

"She's got a point, Elliot! I've rarely seen you that calm with a suspect. You don't think he did it?" Cragen wanted to know.

Stabler thought for a moment and sighed.

"I don't know, Captain…I really don't."

"We have a possible ID!" Benson interrupted, pointing to the firefighter, waiting in the room next to them.

"I just think we shouldn't jump the gun…he's FDNY…" Stabler tried to justify his behavior, but even he wasn't satisfied with it. He couldn't explain why he cut Kitson the slack he did.

"How about you do the line up? We can argue about it later…," Cragen suggested, turning towards Olivia.

"Are the victims ready?" he wanted to know.

"Andrea Goldstein is waiting in an interrogation room. I called Jessica Vance, but I don't know if she's coming or not. She's taking it pretty hard," Benson explained.

"Show me a victim that isn't," Cragen sighed and told them to start the line up. He wanted to get this mess over with. He was already getting calls from his superiors. Arresting a member of the FDNY was not a very popular thing to do, especially not after September 11th.

Cragen's phone rang again.

"Get that line up going," he ordered is Detectives, before he picked up and listened to one of his superiors once more.

* * *

Jessica Vance shyly stepped out of the elevator, her purse pulled closed to her body. The noise and the people around her intimidated her. She wasn't sure what she was doing here, but when Detective Benson had called her about an hour ago, she had to come. She had been told that the Detectives had a man in custody and that they would need her for a line up.

Now, Jessica Vance was nervously looking around, trying to find the female Detective. People were hurrying past her, as if she was invisible. Finally, a uniformed female officer stopped and addressed her.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a friendly tone and even smiled slightly.

"I'm…ehm…I'm looking for…Detective Benson?" Jessica managed to say in a barely audible voice, her nervousness clearly showing.

"Sure, I'll take you." She motioned the nervous woman to follow her.

They turned some corners, passing the two glass doors that separated the office of Special Victims Unit from the main hall.

At the same time, Detective Stabler was leading Derek Kitson out of the interrogation room to bring him to the room where they would be doing the line up. Jessica's eyes fell on the dark haired man that instantly looked familiar. All of a sudden, it was all coming back; forcing its way into her memory. Without thinking, the woman grabbed the gun from the belt of the uniformed woman next to her and fired…


End file.
